Girlfriend Gets 21 1/2 Years In Carr Killings Of 3 Cops

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TAMPA - The girlfriend of cop killer Hank Earl Carr was sentenced Tuesday to 21 1/2 years in prison for lying to investigators about Carr and failing to tell them that he carried a handcuff key.

Bernice Bowen, shackled hand and foot, sobbed in the courtroom and apologized to the families of three law officers slain in a May 1998 rampage triggered after Carr fatally shot Bowen's 4-year-old son.

``I am very sorry,'' Bowen said. ``I know your pain and I pray for you every night.''

Carr, 30, was in a police car when he used a handcuff key he kept hidden to free himself. He killed Tampa police detectives Ricky Childers and Randy Bell after he grabbed Childers' gun.

Bowen, 25, was convicted in May on five accessory counts for lying to investigators about Carr's name, failing to say he carried a handcuff key and identifying him alternately as her husband, ex-husband or boyfriend.

She later pleaded guilty to two counts of felony child neglect for exposing her son, Joey Bennett, and 6-year-old daughter, Kayla Bennett, to life with Carr, a man with a fondness for guns and a hatred for police.